Will chewing food less slow its energy release?

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  • Larissa_NY
    Larissa_NY Posts: 495 Member
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    Larissa_NY wrote: »
    Have you ever watched an obese person eat? The ones who are like the obese people in my family, at any rate, inhale food like they just want it to sort of wave at their taste buds in passing. Chew once or twice, bam, down the hatch to make room for the next bite. My mother and grandmother could clean their plates and go back for refills while my aunt was still halfway through and my cousins and I were still working on the meatloaf. In order of degree of obesity, we ranked (grandmother & mother) > (aunt) > (me and my cousins).

    If your theory were correct, fat people who eat like my mother should be as thin as rails. I can't imagine chewing my food a hundred times, because ew, but I'm pretty sure that eating like a fat person is not the way to get thin.

    I inhale my food. Always have. I stop when I have eaten enough.
    "Eating like a fat person" does not mean eating quickly. Eating too much is why we get fat.

    Eating too fast and eating too much go hand in hand. You know you've eaten enough when your body starts sending you hormonal signals that you've eaten enough, and that takes time. There's a reason eating slowly helps a lot of people lose weight, and it's not because there are a ton of people in the habit of swallowing their bites whole and then waiting long enough between bites to tell if they're full or not.

    If we're exchanging anecdata, I have never seen a thin person who wasn't a teenage boy inhale their food, and I have never seen a non-dieting obese person who didn't. So until someone breaks out the actual empirical data on eating speed, my anecdata are just as good as your anecdote.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    My understanding (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) is chewing your food slowly is just another way to trick yourself into being in a calorie deficit.
    It'll take you an hour to eat your oatmeal instead of 10 minutes, by the end of the hour you're bored and you want to do something else instead of counting how much you chew.
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    edited March 2017
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    The benefit of consuming your foods more slowly is that you're giving your brain time to register the fact that there's food incoming, so it can switch off the "I'm starving!" signal before you've had the time and opportunity to overfeed yourself. :)
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    Also, the difference between fruit and fruit juice for diabetics is the juice quantity. It takes several oranges to produce a cup of orange juice so the calories and sugars are higher if you drink juice compared to eating an orange.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    Cherimoose wrote: »
    "Eating like a fat person" does not mean eating quickly.

    Here's an interesting study on buffet patrons that disagrees.

    Patrons with higher levels of BMI were more likely to be associated with using larger plates vs. smaller plates (OR 1.16, P < 0.01) and facing the buffet vs. side or back (OR 1.10, P < 0.001). Patrons with higher levels of BMI were less likely to be associated with using chopsticks vs. forks (OR 0.90,P < 0.05), browsing the buffet before eating vs. serving themselves immediately (OR 0.92, P < 0.001), and having a napkin on their lap vs. not having a napkin on their lap (OR 0.92, P < 0.01). Patrons with lower BMIs left more food on their plates (10.6% vs. 6.0%, P < 0.05) and chewed more per bite of food (14.8 vs. 11.9, P < 0.001).
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18670421

    And another one...
    Compared with lean participants, obese participants had a higher ingestion rate and a lower number of chews per 1 g of food. However, obese participants had a bite size similar to that of lean subjects.
    Regardless of status, the subjects ingested 11.9% less after 40 chews than after 15 chews. Compared with 15 chews, 40 chews resulted in lower energy intake and postprandial ghrelin concentration and higher postprandial glucagon-like peptide 1 and cholecystokinin concentrations in both lean and obese subjects.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21775556

    That second one showed that chewing slower led to fewer calories consumed. :+1:

    But those studies are eating ad lib. That is not applicable to the MFP sub set who calorie track.

    In other words, If it takes you 3 nano seconds to inhale your calorie controlled lunch it's the same as it taking 30 mins.

    Having said that, if you're attempting to move to intuitive eating, then this sort of approach would be useful.
  • Larissa_NY
    Larissa_NY Posts: 495 Member
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    Cherimoose wrote: »
    "Eating like a fat person" does not mean eating quickly.

    Here's an interesting study on buffet patrons that disagrees.

    Patrons with higher levels of BMI were more likely to be associated with using larger plates vs. smaller plates (OR 1.16, P < 0.01) and facing the buffet vs. side or back (OR 1.10, P < 0.001). Patrons with higher levels of BMI were less likely to be associated with using chopsticks vs. forks (OR 0.90,P < 0.05), browsing the buffet before eating vs. serving themselves immediately (OR 0.92, P < 0.001), and having a napkin on their lap vs. not having a napkin on their lap (OR 0.92, P < 0.01). Patrons with lower BMIs left more food on their plates (10.6% vs. 6.0%, P < 0.05) and chewed more per bite of food (14.8 vs. 11.9, P < 0.001).
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18670421

    And another one...
    Compared with lean participants, obese participants had a higher ingestion rate and a lower number of chews per 1 g of food. However, obese participants had a bite size similar to that of lean subjects.
    Regardless of status, the subjects ingested 11.9% less after 40 chews than after 15 chews. Compared with 15 chews, 40 chews resulted in lower energy intake and postprandial ghrelin concentration and higher postprandial glucagon-like peptide 1 and cholecystokinin concentrations in both lean and obese subjects.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21775556

    That second one showed that chewing slower led to fewer calories consumed. :+1:

    But those studies are eating ad lib. That is not applicable to the MFP sub set who calorie track.

    In other words, If it takes you 3 nano seconds to inhale your calorie controlled lunch it's the same as it taking 30 mins.

    Having said that, if you're attempting to move to intuitive eating, then this sort of approach would be useful.

    Yes, of course, but that's not what anyone was talking about. The OP's post wasn't about calorie counting, it was about whether or not chewing your food less would somehow make you absorb fewer calories from it. The post this one is responding to was about whether chewing less was associated with eating more. Eating a calorie-controlled meal is a different topic altogether.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    That is a very unique theory. But no.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    zyxst wrote: »
    My understanding (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) is chewing your food slowly is just another way to trick yourself into being in a calorie deficit.
    It'll take you an hour to eat your oatmeal instead of 10 minutes, by the end of the hour you're bored and you want to do something else instead of counting how much you chew.

    If you need to chew your oatmeal, you've made it wrong. And I say this as a person who loves thick-as-mortar oatmeal.

    hahaha, I was trying to think of an example and oatmeal was right next to me.
  • CorneliusPhoton
    CorneliusPhoton Posts: 965 Member
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    Larissa_NY wrote: »
    Cherimoose wrote: »
    "Eating like a fat person" does not mean eating quickly.

    Here's an interesting study on buffet patrons that disagrees.

    Patrons with higher levels of BMI were more likely to be associated with using larger plates vs. smaller plates (OR 1.16, P < 0.01) and facing the buffet vs. side or back (OR 1.10, P < 0.001). Patrons with higher levels of BMI were less likely to be associated with using chopsticks vs. forks (OR 0.90,P < 0.05), browsing the buffet before eating vs. serving themselves immediately (OR 0.92, P < 0.001), and having a napkin on their lap vs. not having a napkin on their lap (OR 0.92, P < 0.01). Patrons with lower BMIs left more food on their plates (10.6% vs. 6.0%, P < 0.05) and chewed more per bite of food (14.8 vs. 11.9, P < 0.001).
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18670421

    And another one...
    Compared with lean participants, obese participants had a higher ingestion rate and a lower number of chews per 1 g of food. However, obese participants had a bite size similar to that of lean subjects.
    Regardless of status, the subjects ingested 11.9% less after 40 chews than after 15 chews. Compared with 15 chews, 40 chews resulted in lower energy intake and postprandial ghrelin concentration and higher postprandial glucagon-like peptide 1 and cholecystokinin concentrations in both lean and obese subjects.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21775556

    That second one showed that chewing slower led to fewer calories consumed. :+1:

    But those studies are eating ad lib. That is not applicable to the MFP sub set who calorie track.

    In other words, If it takes you 3 nano seconds to inhale your calorie controlled lunch it's the same as it taking 30 mins.

    Having said that, if you're attempting to move to intuitive eating, then this sort of approach would be useful.

    Yes, of course, but that's not what anyone was talking about. The OP's post wasn't about calorie counting, it was about whether or not chewing your food less would somehow make you absorb fewer calories from it. The post this one is responding to was about whether chewing less was associated with eating more. Eating a calorie-controlled meal is a different topic altogether.

    :dizzy:
    I didn't see anything in OP's post about absorbing fewer calories. He asked about the rate of absorption being slower. Of course it all gets absorbed eventually, but maybe he is concerned about sugar spikes since he also compared drinking juice vs eating fruit as a diabetic..? Dunno . But somehow this evolved into absorbing fewer calories from not chewing food and digesting concrete and bone and blanket statements about how fast all fat people eat.

    *shrugs*
  • Rob_in_MI
    Rob_in_MI Posts: 393 Member
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    Does this "snake diet" include detailed information on how to unhinge your jaw?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,738 Member
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    Some say chewing each mouthful a hundred times helps you eat less. Maybe because the second mouthful will be cold and the last stale. I have a theory that chewing less will slow the bodies ability to break into the calories and so slow down the rate that the energy is released into the blood stream. A bit like fruit is ok if you are diabetic, but fruit juice is a huge no no.
    Am I right, or wrong?

    Doubt it. But seems more likely to cause indigestion, reflux, and/or heartburn, based on my n = 1 experiments with downing some meals at lightning speed.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
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    Rob_in_MI wrote: »
    Does this "snake diet" include detailed information on how to unhinge your jaw?

    No idea. I suspect the post got pulled. I googled it and it seemed really weird.

    I get that it is just one version of IF but the pictures made it look like an MLM scheme.
  • BlueSkyShoal
    BlueSkyShoal Posts: 325 Member
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    I just hope it doesn't involve live mice.
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,209 Member
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    Some say chewing each mouthful a hundred times helps you eat less. Maybe because the second mouthful will be cold and the last stale. I have a theory that chewing less will slow the bodies ability to break into the calories and so slow down the rate that the energy is released into the blood stream. A bit like fruit is ok if you are diabetic, but fruit juice is a huge no no.
    Am I right, or wrong?

    Basically correct. Lots of studies have measured the gastric emptying rate of various meals (mostly for the pharmaceutical industry) and chunkier solids do stay in the stomach much longer than liquids. On the other hand, big meals start leaving the stomach sooner than small meals, so your mileage/kilometerage may vary. :+1:
  • southernoregongrape
    southernoregongrape Posts: 117 Member
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    Evidently, WW believed this theory. I remember the battles that raged when we were allowed to eat cooked oatmeal, even instant on the Core plan. But not if we ground the oatmeal into oat flour before cooking. Even if we cooked it like oatmeal and not in a baked muffin. (Just added that because I didn't want anyone to believe it was because of the ED of the food,)
    Never made sense to me. But it also does not make a lot of sense to me to dawdle over your food.
  • kq1981
    kq1981 Posts: 1,098 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Sometimes I'm so hungry I barely have time to chew
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
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    Larissa_NY wrote: »
    Have you ever watched an obese person eat? The ones who are like the obese people in my family, at any rate, inhale food like they just want it to sort of wave at their taste buds in passing. Chew once or twice, bam, down the hatch to make room for the next bite. My mother and grandmother could clean their plates and go back for refills while my aunt was still halfway through and my cousins and I were still working on the meatloaf. In order of degree of obesity, we ranked (grandmother & mother) > (aunt) > (me and my cousins).

    If your theory were correct, fat people who eat like my mother should be as thin as rails. I can't imagine chewing my food a hundred times, because ew, but I'm pretty sure that eating like a fat person is not the way to get thin.

    I inhale my food. Always have. I stop when I have eaten enough.
    "Eating like a fat person" does not mean eating quickly. Eating too much is why we get fat.

    It's true that eating too much is the reason we get fat, but eating quickly tends to promote overeating and overlook the tastes.

    I'm surprised that when I got to my maintenance weight I have developed the habit of taking my time with a meal, instead of sitting down and eating all the way until I felt full like I did in the past.

    I also ask my wife to take her time instead of us finishing our dinner in 20 minutes. Try different sauces. Use appropriate utensils for the items. LOL. It's fun and feel sophisticated. It really makes us more aware of the food and the amount we eat. And only when we eat slowly enough, could we be able to experience the tastes which sometimes I put a lot of effort in making.
  • marm1962
    marm1962 Posts: 950 Member
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    Larissa_NY wrote: »
    Larissa_NY wrote: »
    Have you ever watched an obese person eat? The ones who are like the obese people in my family, at any rate, inhale food like they just want it to sort of wave at their taste buds in passing. Chew once or twice, bam, down the hatch to make room for the next bite. My mother and grandmother could clean their plates and go back for refills while my aunt was still halfway through and my cousins and I were still working on the meatloaf. In order of degree of obesity, we ranked (grandmother & mother) > (aunt) > (me and my cousins).

    If your theory were correct, fat people who eat like my mother should be as thin as rails. I can't imagine chewing my food a hundred times, because ew, but I'm pretty sure that eating like a fat person is not the way to get thin.

    I inhale my food. Always have. I stop when I have eaten enough.
    "Eating like a fat person" does not mean eating quickly. Eating too much is why we get fat.

    Eating too fast and eating too much go hand in hand. You know you've eaten enough when your body starts sending you hormonal signals that you've eaten enough, and that takes time. There's a reason eating slowly helps a lot of people lose weight, and it's not because there are a ton of people in the habit of swallowing their bites whole and then waiting long enough between bites to tell if they're full or not.

    If we're exchanging anecdata, I have never seen a thin person who wasn't a teenage boy inhale their food, and I have never seen a non-dieting obese person who didn't. So until someone breaks out the actual empirical data on eating speed, my anecdata are just as good as your anecdote.

    hmmm, someone should tell my husband. His plate is usually empty by the time I get to sit down to eat and he is thin. I on the other hand am the one usually still sitting at the table eating my dinner while everyone else is getting seconds or dessert and I am 60 lbs over weight, I have never inhaled my food.